Rapid Fire Reviews: Coachella Recap with Yves Tumor, Sleaford Mods & Rae Sremmurd

Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds - Yves Tumor

While I've never been anywhere near as big a fan of Yves Tumor's music as a lot of my critical contemporaries, I did think their last full-length project Heaven To A Tortured Mind was their best yet and that combined with some singles I somewhat enjoyed I was looking forward to this being a continuation of sorts. That started with lead single and album opener God Is A Circle which just missed my singles list last year and carried on to the spectacularly named Heaven Surrounds Us Like A Hood. The record parlays those two tracks into a pretty good start with songs whose sequenced beats and gentle singing make for a dark but surprisingly inviting combination at their best moments. The unfortunate part is that the second half of the record has a much more rock slant generally and it comes served with an occasional pop-punk edge that I could really do without sometimes. The second half isn't completely devoid of highlights, Fear Evil Like Fire is a strong moment and I like the single Echolalia more now than I originally did, but it's definitely a tale of two halves in terms of how much I enjoyed the record. Yves Tumor's talent is still so obvious but once again I feel like it fails to fully translate into a record that's as satisfying as it should be. The highlights are plenty good enough to make this worth hearing but we'll have to keep waiting for that truly transcendent record their capable of. 6/10

UK Grim - Sleaford Mods

I know this isn't true, but it feels like Sleaford Mods have released an album every year I've been reviewing music, maybe even every year I've been alive. They're just a constant prolific presence in music often dividing critics and starting beef with other British punk bands. While I've skipped out on formally reviewing pretty much all their material since way back in 2017 I guess there's no time like the present to catch-up. Part of the reason I hadn't discussed Spare Ribs or Eton Alive in a formal setting is that I just didn't have much to say about them, but UK Grim by comparison seems to stand out a bit more in the band's discography. While I've never been one of those people who sees the band's chanting and ranting style as too much to overcome, it's finally starting to sound that way to me. Unfortunately, I have more to say about this record because I think it's a step down from previous albums not just instrumentally but with the songwriting and performances as well. Over time the band's constant contrarianism has drifted from sounding righteous to just plain petty and it pops up all over this album occasionally in some uncomfortable places.  It would be easier to tolerate if Jason's performances hadn't somehow gotten even more annoying over time. The result is a record that has its flashes of occasional technical prowess but is largely a slog. The band continues to combine more conventional rock instrumentation with more electronic and dancier songs mixed in and while it isn't their most compelling outing musically I do think that's the place they've slipped the least. Despite some of the positive buzz I've seen for the album I just can't get behind it, after a few listens I can't really think of any reason I'd ever want to give it any more. 3/10 

Sremm 4 Life - Rae Sremmurd

Even though their style hasn't changed that much and both members of Rae Sremmurd have continued a stable presence on the charts with solo music and features, it feels like every time they've released an album since 2 there's a significant decrease in fanfare and this one is no different. Following their last triple album whose quality depended drastically on which disc you were listening to they've got the chance to return with a more typical album format which in the trap genre is really only one big hit away from reigniting their career as a duo. One thing you can give the duo credit for is sticking to what they're good at. The melodic trap hooks across this record are generally pretty decent and better than a lot of their rapper contemporaries are capable of providing for themselves. Unfortunately, I think they too often fail to really stick the landing through one way or another. The beat choices on this record are extremely safe and it would be pretty hard to identify most of these tracks instrumentally outside the context of the album. It also features a lot of songwriting deficiencies which is displayed perfectly on the run of Royal Flush whose hook fails to even kind of rhyme, Mississippi Slide whose hook awkwardly spells out almost its entire title, and Not So Bad which has an interpolation of Dido's Thank You that is so hilarious you've really just got to hear it for yourself. 

While the first half of the record at large isn't great I will say that the moment it hits the second half starting with the two-part Flaunt It/Cheap the quality improves quite a bit. Sexy is one of the only songs here that's as funny as it thinks it is and the record's turn towards more sentimental songs after that does work. But even then it can't stick the landing after serving up the underwhelming bangers Torpedo and Diamonds Dancing and the well-intentioned but kind of silly finale ADHD Anthem. This record has its moments but it's far too inconsistent to represent the band's return to critical acclaim and I think the songs here with the most commercial potential are still too weak to return the pair to stardom. Sremm 4 Life mostly fails to meet any of the goals that anyone involved may have set for it. 4.5/10